Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Offbeat wonderful, December 3, 2002
"Wonderwall Music" is a fascinating recording, and I speak from the point of view of someone who loves to play with tape recorders and audio at home. Beatlefans should note that this is not a collection of pop songs, nor are there any vocals except chanting at the end. Instead, it is an eclectic group of little ditties of varying lengths, which make full use of some fascinating sounds - both Indian (tabla, shenhai, sitar, etc.) and western (tapes played backwards, tapes cut up and edited together, jangle pianos, searing electric guitars, gentle mellotron, etc.) Harrison's studio prowess is quite evident throughout, and it is a lot of fun waiting to hear what is going to happen next. (In some ways this record makes an interesting companion to the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour" in its experiments with sound. Indeed, Beatlemaniacs will remember that early versions of the song "Flying" ended with an obscure jazz record tacked onto the end. Harrison seems to have taken the same jazz record here and sliced it up, looped it, and superimposed some other music on top of it.) While a few moments sound a bit like "Revolution 9," more often there are appealing melodies and beats going on. Really, there is some sophisticated music here, especially considering that Harrison was only 25 when he recorded it. It's difficult to summarize this album because I can think of no other quite like it. For those who have an ear for a variety of sounds employed in a creative studio environment, I heartily recommend "Wonderwall Music."
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very Much Of It's Time, But Also Very Much Ahead Of It..., October 24, 2001
This was a great starting point to George Harrison's solo career, and also a reflection of the times that spawned it (as well as the film); a colorful slice-of-time piece of classic psychedelia, very much of it's time, but also very much ahead of it. Harrison arguably is the sole purveyor of the use of Indian music and Middle-Eastern influences in his (and that of The Beatles) music. Other artists and bands of the time incorporated the same influences into their own repertoires, but while they and their music remain squarely locked in that time period, Harrison transcended it by leaps and bounds, and this soundtrack to "Wonderwall" is a firm testament to that fact; it still sounds fresh and innovative 30-plus years later, without sounding the least bit dated. As others have pointed out, this is not the complete soundtrack to the film, only about half of it, really; but the part that is included here is nothing short of incredible!With the exception of the track "Singing Om", there are no vocals or lyrics to be found on this album, but that's the magic of it; it doesn't need vocals or lyrics to be effective in grabbing (and keeping) your attention. Not all of the selections are Indian music, with my favorite being the track "Ski-ing" (which features some great guitar work by Eric Clapton, who is uncredited as a musician on the album, but is mentioned in the liner notes); also "Party Seacombe", and the delightful "Cowboy Music", all three of which are a radical departure from the rest of the Indian tracks, but yet do not sound out of place; it all flows together nicely. It's sad that this CD is now out of print, but hopefully it will become available again in the future--a director's cut of the film has been released by Rhino on DVD for the first time with the soundtrack intact (and also in Dolby 5.1 Surround!) If and when this CD does become available again, don't hesitate to buy it, because you'll be missing out on a true gem!
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Portrait of a psychedelic time, July 23, 2001
While it can be discussed whether "Wonderwall Music by George Harrison" was truly the first solo album by a Beatle (existing some old soundtrack to a movie called "The Family Way", whose music was composed by Paul McCartney), there's no doubts, that in the middle of that weird family conformed by their experimental albums (the "Unfinished Music" series by the Lennons; "Electronic Sounds", by George himself; and most recently, the "Fireman" CDs by Paul), this CD stands out as a high point. Almost entirely an instrumental, this music was composed by the fantastic guitarist of The Beatles going along with the development of the movie itself... in fact, this LP, digitally remastered and converted into a CD by Emi in 1992, doesn't cover all of the score made for the soundtrack, and it's only a part of it. The argument of the movie, then, explains lots of the instrumental music that we hear on the CD... A sad, average man only finds happiness in the beauty and magic of a fantastic lady that comes to his bedroom through a "wonderwall". This shows mainly how this soundtrack is. The other basis used by George to create this piece of music was his unique background of western (traditional pop, rock'n'roll) and eastern (mostly indian) music. Then, alternating the tracks, you get to hear little suites from both generes. "Microbes", "In The Park", "Guru Vandana", "Crying" and "Fantasy Sequins" follow the shape of instrumentals conformed by wind indian instruments. "Tabla & Pakavaj", "In The Park", "Gat Kurwani" (a particularly outstanding and breathtaking track) and "Glass Box" follow more the tendency of featuring chord indian instruments, always based on unusual harmonical structures... "Love Scene" is the longest track, and it's conformed by several parts of amazing indian music, and one even gets to hear some vocalists musitating words. And "Singing Om" is exactly that, and a good finale for the record. However, the extremely amazing parts are the pop based tunes. "Red Lady Too" is a waltz piece made in a piano that sounds just like the one on "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da"...; "Drilling A Home" has the same sound (which shows how many times The Beatles used this George Harrison influences on the group's records) ; "Ski-Ing" is one of the most amazing instrumentals ever, featuring Eric Clapton playing a strong riff on his electric guitar; "Party Seacombe" follows the 12-bar pattern that some Beatle instrumentals had had; "Cowbow Music" is exactly that... and then "On The Bed" and "Wonderwall To Be Here" are great finales. Breahtaking to say the least. Well... it may not be the kind of George Harrison album you could be looking for, but it's much better than lots of "experimantal" music that The Beatles released towards the end of the 60's decade. This one is in a relaxing mood, with moments of light and moments of darkness. Almost like a classic piece. This is a classic piece, but it's one coming from another time. A well made portrait of a psychedelic time.
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